Martin Luther King Jr.’s son urges Alabama to delay the execution of cop killer after his co-accused said he acted alone
- Martin Luther King Jr’s son wrote to Governor Kay Ivey asking for the execution of Nathaniel Woods to be delayed
- His lethal injection is set for Thursday 6pm
- Another man has said he was alone when he acted alone when he killed officers Carlos Owen, Harley Chisholm III and Charles R. Bennett in 2004
- Martin Luther King III recalled how 55 years ago his father led a ‘march from Selma, Alabama, where he and fellow civil rights activists were killed and beaten’
- He told Twitter followers the governor had rejected his call and wrote: ‘Under your watch, Alabama is about to produce yet another tragic injustice’
- King warned: ‘Killing this African-American man, whose case appears to have been strongly mishandled by the courts, could produce an irreversible injustice’
- He closed, ‘my father said, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” and so I pray that God grants you the courage to do the right thing’
Martin Luther King Jr’s son has asked an Alabama governor to halt the execution of a man convicted of killing three cops because a second suspect has already confessed to committing the crime alone.
Officers Carlos Owen, Harley A. Chisholm III and Charles R. Bennett were killed while serving a warrant at a home in Birmingham in 2004.
Nathaniel Woods was convicted and his death by lethal injection is scheduled for Thursday at 6pm, despite Kerry Spencer maintaining he did it alone.
Spencer is due to be executed at a later date.
Martin Luther King III has asked for the execution of a convicted killer to be stayed
Nathaniel Woods (left) is scheduled for lethal injection Thursday at 6pm. But Kerry Spencer (right) says he carried out the killings alone
King wrote in a letter: ‘Killing this African-American man, whose case appears to have been strongly mishandled by the courts, could produce an irreversible injustice’
Woods’ request for a stay of execution was denied on Monday, Birmingham News reported.
Now Martin Luther King III has stepped in to try to save Woods’ life.
‘WE NEED YOUR HELP. Nate Woods is about to be executed in Alabama. This is an injustice, and we need to make sure the public is aware. Please retweet, tag @GovernorKayIvey, and use the hashtag #SaveNate,’ he tweeted Tuesday.
The message was shared alongside the letter he sent Governor Kay Ivey.
Martin Luther King III said in the Twitter post he sent the letter ‘after she denied my phone call’.
‘In just 2 days, your state, and the state I was born in, is set to kill a man who is very likely innocent,’ he writes in the letter. ‘(Fifty-five) years ago, my father, Martin Luther King, Jr., (led) a march from Selma, Alabama, where he and fellow civil rights activists were killed and beaten.
‘Under your watch, Alabama is about to produce yet another tragic injustice.’
He later added in a tweet: ‘My father marched from Selma 55 years ago, where many were killed and beaten. He was fighting for justice his whole life.
‘Allowing the execution of Nate Woods would only show that we have not learned from the past. It’s time to be on the right side of history.’
Woods was in the apartment when Spencer gunned down the officers.
He said in the letter to Governor Ivey, ‘my father said, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” and so I pray that God grants you the courage to do the right thing’
It’s believed Woods never got the chance to have a fair trial.
‘Killing this African-American man, whose case appears to have been strongly mishandled by the courts, could produce an irreversible injustice,’ King wrote in the letter. ‘Are you willing to allow a potentially innocent man to be executed?
‘So before you allow the execution of Nathaniel Woods, I urge you to grant him a reprieve. We must allow time to accurately review the new evidence.’
King finished by remembering the words of his late father.
The Christian minister spearheaded the Civil Rights Movement from 1955 until he was assassinated April 4, 1968 in Tennessee.
‘In closing, my father said, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” and so I pray that God grants you the courage to do the right thing: to delay his execution.’
Martin Luther King III recalled how 55 years ago his father led a ‘march from Selma, Alabama, where he and fellow civil rights activists were killed and beaten’
He told Twitter followers the governor had rejected his call and wrote: ‘Under your watch, Alabama is about to produce yet another tragic injustice’